Free Republic

VLADIMIR PUTIN'S grip on power is under pressure after a huge number of Russian Orthodox churches - one of his strongest bases of support - have turned on the Kremlin and the ongoing war in Ukraine. A growing conflict inside the Russian Orthodox Church over the war in Ukraine could plunge Vladimir Putin into crisis. President Putin counts the Russian Orthodox faith as one of his country's greatest soft powers and has developed a strong personal alliance with the head of the Church, Patriarch Kirill. At the start of the war, Patriarch Kirill even blessed the invasion, turning a...

(CP) A congregation in the Netherlands is seeking to leave the Russian Orthodox Church in opposition to Patriarch Kirill of Moscow's support for the invasion of Ukraine, filing a request for "canonical dismissal" The Russian Orthodox Parish of Saint Nicholas of Myra in Amsterdam posted an announcement on its Facebook page last Saturday stating that "the clergy unanimously announced that it is no longer possible for them to function within the Moscow Patriarchate and provide a spiritually safe environment for our faithful." The announcement was "extremely painful and difficult for all concerned" and came in response to what the parish...

When it comes to our president or many other prominent world leaders, we have a pretty good idea of who they are and what makes them tick. But do we really know who Vladimir Putin is? Do we know what drives and motivates him? More specifically, do we know for sure why he has invaded Ukraine?We have been told that he wants to restore the glory of the former Soviet Union. This will be his legacy.We have been told that he is simply threatened by the expansion of NATO, dreading the possibility of nuclear weapons stationed next to the Russian...

Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus is not calling for peace in Ukraine, and the fact that some in the Western media seem to think he has done so is evidence of how much the West has to learn about Orthodox Christianity, church-state relations in Russia, and Kirill himself. The first time the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church spoke after Russian troops entered Ukraine (but before fighting had officially begun) was during the commemoration for Defender of the Fatherland Day (known, before 1993, as Red Army Day) when Kirill offered a long, nationalist sermon in which he described...

The government of Quebec has ordered three Orthodox schools in Montreal, Canada to close for not following COVID measures. The government of Quebec has ordered three Orthodox schools in Montreal, Canada to close after they did not follow COVID measures, CTV News reported. The Quebec Ministry of Education sent formal notices to the three Jewish schools that were holding classes against a provincial order to close in-school learning...

Dionysios Boloubassis developed a reputation as a talented iconographer in Greece before he immigrated to the United States in 2013. Over the past ten years he built up a new portfolio of work in America, which together with his churches in Greece, demonstrates his experience and skill in carrying on the iconographic tradition. Christ, Pantocrator, by the hand of Dionysios BouloubassisORTHODOX ARTS JOURNAL: Let’s start by learning about where you are from. DIONYSIOS BOULOUBASSIS: My parents are from Greece, but they immigrated to the US and I was born in Maryland. When I was still young, however, my mother and...

In some Eastern European and Middle Eastern countries, Christmas is officially celebrated on January 7. That is because numerous Orthodox Christian churches follow the Julian calendar for religious celebrations. The Julian calendar runs 13 days behind the Gregorian calendar, the standard international calendar in use today. The Julian calendar took effect under the reign of Julius Caesar in 45BC. In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII created a new calendar to correct the discrepancy between calendar time and calculated astronomical time. It became known as the Gregorian calendar. But to begin with, only Catholic countries adopted the changes and Orthodox Christian countries...

Moscow Patriarchate Signs Death Certificate for Conciliar Ecumenism The number two of the Russian Orthodox Church reacted, on December 12, 2021, on the Rossiya-24 channel, to the remarks made, on December 6, by Pope Francis on the plane back from Greece to Rome.The Sovereign Pontiff then declared: “I am ready to go to Moscow… My meeting with Patriarch Kirill is on the horizon.”Without confirming or denying the prospect of a meeting at the highest level between the Successor of Peter and the head of the Russian Church - which would be the second in the current pontificate - Metropolitan...

The Patriarch of Russia speaks about the dangers of modern "gadgets" and the results of them.

Pope Francis apologizes for mistakes of Catholics in meeting with Greek Orthodox leaders in Athens, GreeceAthens, Greece, Dec 4, 2021 / 09:00 amPope Francis apologized for the ways Catholics have contributed to division with Orthodox Christians during a meeting with Greek Orthodox leaders in Athens on Saturday.“Shamefully, patriarch, — I acknowledge this for the Catholic Church — actions and decisions that had little or nothing to do with Jesus and the Gospel, but were instead marked by a thirst for advantage and power, gravely weakened our communion,” the pope said on Dec. 4.“In this way, we let fruitfulness be compromised...

The Russian Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media has proposed a ban on depicting “non-traditional sexual relationships and sexual deviations in film.” Sexual deviations include pedophilia, exhibitionism, and sadism and masochism, sexologist and psychiatrist Irina Airiyants told Vedomosti. Films with homosexual scenes are already being edited for Russian theaters, such as the recent film about Elton John, Rocket Man. Current legislation does allow the display of such deviancy (except pedophilia), with such films marked 18+. One of the proposals also includes a ban on the distribution of materials promoting non-traditional sexual relations and sexual...

Pharisees Question Jesus, by J. Tissot (1886-94) Hillel the Elder, sometimes referred to as Rabbi Hillel, was a Jewish religious leader who lived shortly before Jesus’ time. There is a famous story told of him in which he was challenged by a potential convert to teach him the entire Torah while “standing on one foot.” In other words, can you distill the essence and present it succinctly?That same theme may be behind the question that is raised today by the scholar of law, who asks, “Which is the first of all the commandments?”In answering while “standing on foot,” Jesus recites...

His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros of America Opening Address Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the USA October 4, 2021 The Bethesdan Hotel Bethesda, Maryland My Beloved Brothers and Concelebrants in the Holy Spirit, I greet each and every one of you in the beauty and glory of our Holy Orthodox Christian Faith. I feel so very blessed that we are able to gather in person this year, even though we yet face many challenges from this unrelenting pandemic. This is, therefore, a continuation of our Tenth Anniversary celebration, which had to be in a virtual setting last year. We are...

A government-sponsored program, One Hectare in Siberia, provides free distribution of real estate, about 2.5 acres, to anyone who would put it to use, and after a five year period the land is converted into one’s private property. There had been no church in the village of Kotikovo, Khabarovsk Province. The residents had little chance to build one – but when this program was put into effect, they procured a lot in the village center with an abandoned building on it and set out to make it their church. Today, the renovation is over, the new roof and dome are...

Russian orthodox in Alaska https://youtu.be/BcLREBBc6cI

The Holy Scriptures are one of the two great foundations of the faith and here is what our church holds and teaches concerning it. The word of God is not contained in the Bible alone, it is to be found in tradition as well. The Sacred Scriptures are the written word of God who is the author of the Old and New Testaments containing nothing but perfect truth in faith and morals. But God’s word is not contained only in them, there is an unwritten word of God also, which we call apostolic tradition. We receive the one and other...

The Ukrainian Orthodox Church’s annual cross procession on the eve of the Baptism of Rus’ drew its largest crowd ever this year. According to preliminary calculations, more than 350,000 Ukrainian faithful took to the streets to honor St. Vladimir the Equal-to-the-Apostles, who baptized Rus’ in the Orthodox faith, His Eminence Metropolitan Anthony of Borsypil and Brovary, the Chancellor of the canonical Ukrainian Church, reported in the briefing following the procession. The day began with a moleben on St. Vladimir Hill at 1:00 PM in Kiev. Then the procession, headed by His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev and All Ukraine, made...

This is a humorous (yet mostly accurate) video showing the differences between Catholics and Orthodox. It's done by a talented Serbian Orthodox young man and his channel is worth subscribing to. Differences Between Orthodox and Catholics

[Catholic Caucus] Francis Calls "Rigidity", "Ritualism" A PerversionFrancis warned a group of seminarians from Italy’s Marche region during a June 10 audience of “closure and rigidity” - although their problem is likely the opposite vice.“Rigidity is somewhat fashionable today" - he fancied while, in real life, the Francis Church is marked by laxness and debauchery. Jumping from one mantra to an other, Francis concluded that "rigidity" is a manifestations of "clericalism" and that it is "a perversion of the priesthood."Evidently, he was fighting his own shadow since "clericalism" is defined as a "policy of maintaining or increasing the power of...

Gratitude where gratitude is due: My family’s story with the Society of St. Pius XSo many souls today are not being tended well by their shepherds. So many sheep out there are lost in the wilderness and no one is present to look for them.Father Steven Reuter on Holy Thursday 2020 June 9, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) – Sometimes things happen in life that we receive with much gratitude, but we may never make it a point of stressing them. And then comes an occasion which prompts us to do some act of gratitude that was long overdue.This is how it is...